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The first U.S. Flag, which denoted civilian versusmilitary purposes, was designed in 1799 by OliverWolcott Jr. the Secretary of the Treasury underJohn Adams. Wolcott's proposal featured: Anensign, consisting of sixteen alternating red andwhite stripes representing the number of statesthat had joined the Union by 1799; and theUnion, represented by the small rectangle in the

upper left corner, with its Arms (an Eagle) of theUnited States in dark blue on a white field.

It is significant that Wolcotts new civilian flaghadvertical stripes, not horizontal. This wasdone so that non-military ships would be easilyrecognized and not fired upon as they tried tohail and board foreign vessels. This new flagwas actively flown on Revenue Cutters, what wenow call Coast Guard Cutters. The originalpurpose of the Revenue Cutter was to collect

tariffs and other taxes that were imposed onforeign goods. The Revenue Cutter ensign hadvertical stripes to denote civilian authority underthe Treasury Department rather than militaryauthority under the War Department.

The First U.S. Civil Flag 1799

In the early days of our nation, horizontal stripesbecame the accepted practice for use over militaryposts, and vertical stripes were used over civilian

establishments. The use of the Civilian Flag alsospread to Merchants and Common citizens tosymbolize their Constitutional rights.

The Civil Flag had red and white vertical stripeswith blue stars on a white background. By theLaw of the Flag, the vertical striped designdenoted Roman Civil jurisdiction within Federalterritories rather than Military jurisdiction underAdmiralty law. The practice of using the CustomsFlag as a Civil Flag became encoded law in1874 when Treasury Secretary William. A.Richardson required all customhouses to displaythe Civil Flag.

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Where did Wolcott get the idea of usingvertical stripes from?

Why did Wolcott choose to turn the horizontalstripes of Old Glory ninety degrees? We need toreturn to the beginnings of the AmericanRevolution to satisfy this query.

In Boston, the Sons of Liberty were the originalrevolutionary group who sparked the initialrebellion against the British in 1765. The StampAct was imposed by the British Parliament totax all forms of legal documents within theirAmerican colonies. The Stamp Act created greatunrest in America, especially in Boston, wherean effigy of the local stamp agent, Andrew Oliver,was hanged and burned. Eventually, Oliverresigned, his home looted, and the stampsdestroyed. The Elm tree Oliver was hung onbecame known as the "Liberty Tree".

The Stamp Act rebellion initiated the Stamp ActCongress, which gathered representatives fromnine of the thirteen colonies. A petition of rightsand grievances was drawn up declaring that thecolonists "were entitled to all the inherent rightsand liberties of natural born subjects." Thecolonies also declared that "no taxes ever havebeen, or can be constitutionally imposed uponthem, but by their respective legislatures," and

that it was unreasonable and inconsistent; forthe people of Great Britain to grant to His Majestythe property of the colonists."

The petition asserted that extending the courtsof ADMIRALTY, the law of the seas, in order toprosecute the Act undermined "the rights andliberties" of the colonists. So, the original commonlaw flag was first raised over the Liberty Treein Boston. The "rebellious stripes", as the flagcame to be called, was the original flag used by

the Sons of Liberty, and it had 9 red and whitevertical stripes!

Sons of Liberty"Rebellious Stripes" Flag 1767-1775

Why did they choose red and white vertical stripesas their symbol?

Was the flag with vertical stripes a way of rebellingagainst the British East India Company? The

British-East India Company flag had red and whitehorizontal stripes with the Union Jack in theupper left-hand corner. The first official flag ofthe American Revolution was the Grand Unionflag first flown by General Washington on January2nd 1776 at Cambridge Massachusetts.

Coincidentally it was also the same EXACT flagas the BRITISH-EAST INDIA COMPANY. It flewfor over a year after the signing of the Declarationof Independence! An Anonymous individual of

European descent known only as the Professorrecommended the BEI Company flag to BenFranklin and the flag committee.

It has been reported that this mysterious individualwas none other than Jesuit General Lorenzo Ricci,head of the Jesuit order. General Ricci supposedlyhad died in a Vatican prison six months prior.Pope Clement XIV the man who suppressed theJesuit order in 1773 and had General Ricciimprisoned, soon died early 1774, apparentlypoisoned. The Vatican Treasurer at that time wasGeneral Riccis, best friend and former classmateCardinal Braschi. Braschi controlled the Vaticanresources as acting Pope during the beginningof the American Revolution.

It appears that the Jesuits via the Vatican bankmay have funded the American Revolution. Itwould explain the seat of the new Americangovernment being set up on a Roman-Catholicpossession and the institution of Roman-Civil Lawas the law of the United States territories. i.e. the

District of Columbia.

Although not a true Sovereign flag, only a Stateflag with a Common Law seal can directly

represent the Common Law. There is an indirectrelationship to Individual and state sovereigntywith the U.S. Civil Flag.. A solvent federalgovernment flying a Civil flag, implies solventStates/Nations with Sovereign citizens. When wefirst came across the Civil flag and decided thatthis flag should be the symbol for all sovereigncitizens we looked back to the Sons of Libertyand their Rebellious Stripes flag as our example.We wanted a flag that would address the deepneed in Americans to awaken and return to a

time when our government was not Big Brotherhidden under the name of the Patriot Act! Justas some surmise how the Sons of Liberty turnedthe British East India Companys flag on its side;we also decided to turn Old Glory on its side.We wanted the flag to represent our modernUnion of States, we chose to create a flag thathad 13 vertical stripes and 50 blue stars on awhite background: One star for each SovereignState of the Union of the united States of America!

U.S. Sovereign Flag, Jan 2004

Our civilian flag is a way of reminding Americans,as well as our leaders, that every man and womanis sovereign and that we are all endowed by ourCreator with life, liberty and the pursuit of

happiness. This sovereign Civil Flag is a symbolof our desire to return America to the dreamsupon which she was founded!

Grand Union FlagJan. 2, 1776-1777